Martin Wins Run to the Wire : Track: San Clemente runner didn’t face Los Alamitos’ Mitchell, but his time was better than county rival at meet.

The showdown for the fastest prep sprinter in Orange County got its official start Friday night at the 31st Sunkist Invitational at the Sports Arena.

The tally so far?

Tim Martin 1, Erik Mitchell 0.

Martin, from San Clemente, and Mitchell, from Los Alamitos, did not actually face each other in the same race--Martin ran in the boys’ 50 meters while Mitchell ran the Football 50--but Martin came out the winner nevertheless, winning his race in 5.86 seconds, a nick off the national record of 5.81 set by Palo Alto’s Bill Green in 1979.

Mitchell, who transferred from Mayfair last year, was third in his race in 5.99. That race, featuring some of the best prep football players in Southern California, was won by Chris Alexander of Hawthorne in 5.87. Napolean Kaufman of Lompoc was second in 5.97.

“I still can’t believe this,” Martin said of his victory. “I’m shocked.”

Martin said he hasn’t been training much because of the rainy weather last week. “It looked like everybody had problems coming out (of the blocks),” he said.

Another victorious Orange County performance came in the girls’ 880-yard run. Ocean View freshman Christie Engesser was in fourth with a quarter-mile to go, but she gradually moved up and, just before the bell lap, took the lead, holding off Alais Griffin of Hanover (N.H.) for the victory.

“That was fun,” said Engesser, whose time of 2:19.8 was five seconds off her outdoor best of 2:14.

“That was my first race indoors. It was hard to tell where I was or how many laps I was on.”

In the girls’ triple jump, Lisa Fager of Mission Viejo finished second, but that wasn’t a disappointment as the winner, Juliana Yendork of Walnut, won with a national indoor record mark of 42-feet 3-inches.

Yendork’s mark eclipsed the former national record of 41-0 1/2 set by Jackie Anderson of Spring Valley Mt. Miguel in 1986.

“I knew she’d be here,” said Fager, who leaped 38-4 1/4 Friday, nearly a foot better than her performance at last year’s Sunkist but far from her best of 39-11 1/2. “Every time she jumps she goes over 41 feet.”

Mission Viejo, the two-time defending Orange County girls’ champion, was second in the mile relay to Oxnard Rio Mesa, but held off county rival Woodbridge by two seconds, 4:16.9 to 4:18.9.

“We haven’t been doing any conditioning and they ran great tonight,” Diablo Coach Fred Almond said. “Of course, all the girls will probably talk about is the crash.”

That would be in Mission Viejo’s earlier race, the 8 x 160 relay. Although Mission Viejo had a 20-yard lead with three laps to go, Lori Selicov, the Diablos’ fifth runner, and Shannon Dean tangled in their exchange, causing both girls to tumble to the track. The baton was dropped, and the Diablos were disqualified.

In the girls’ 4 x 800 relay, Woodbridge finished second in 9:50.2, the fifth-fastest time in the nation this year. San Jose Santa Teresa won the race in 9:45.4; Esperanza was fifth (10:02.0) and Corona del Mar was 10th (10:39.5).

Kaci Keffer led off the Woodbridge team with a 2:29.0 split. She was followed by Amy Robles (2:21.2), Swedish exchange student Shannon Modeer (2:33.9) and Cathi Peck (2:25.9).

“We just came here to eat the free oranges and get our free T-shirts,” Woodbridge Coach George Varvas said. “We’re just taking this thing totally for fun.”

Sunkist notes

Cyndi Boothby of Esperanza was fourth in the girls’ 880 in 2:25, and teammate Roshawn Sims was third in the boys’ 500 (1:01.3). . . . Clayton Tharrington of Esperanza was second in the boys’ triple jump (46-4 3/4) and Tony Robinson of San Clemente was third (45-10 1/2). . . . Corona del Mar was second in the boys’ 4 x 880 in 8:32.9. . . . Laura Cattivera, a former standout at Princeton who now trains in Irvine, was sixth in the women’s $100,000 mile run in 4:44.15. . . . Bryan Dameworth, Agoura High School’s national prep cross-country champion who says he is considering UC Irvine as his college choice, won the National High School boys’ mile race in 4:17.17. . . . Former Los Alamitos High star Mark Junkermann was fifth in the men’s 3,000 in 7:58.58. Doug Padilla, the athlete of the meet, won the race in 7:47.65, breaking his own meet record by nearly 10 seconds.